The two main factions in Zimbabwe's unity government have clashed over how to spend half a billion dollars from the International Monetary Fund, in a dispute that could create further tensions in the already shaky coalition.<br /><br />The country's finance minister, Tendai Biti, of the Movement for Democratic Change, has earmarked about $50m of <br /><br />the funds for agriculture, a sector that represents about 16 per cent of the economy and a majority of the country's workforce.<br /><br />But farmers, many of whom support the Zanu-PF party of Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's president, say the government should spend the bulk of the funds on assisting new farmers.<br /><br />Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa, reporting from Mashonaland East, spoke to one such farmer who said the current allocation of funds is a "travesty".<br /><br />He said a failure to support the country's agricultural sector could lead to "social strife".<br /><br />Alfred Mutasa, an economist from Zimbabwe, said the situation has heightened tensions between supporters of the two factions.<br /><br />"Tension has risen precisely because Tendai Biti has been seen to be very obstructive because he has not been able to deliver," he told Al Jazeera.<br /><br />"People in Zanu-PF think he has been very obstructive in that sense."
